Packers win fourth straight game

December 30, 2008 11:30 pm

— MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County boys basketball team will go after its fifth straight victory — and third in the annual Packer Roundball Classic — when they meet Mt. Zion High of Jonesboro at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Packers, who started the season with five straight losses, ran their winning streak to four with a 70-66 victory over Stockbridge on Tuesday in the tournament being held at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium.
Colquitt County’s girls also played Stockbridge and rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a one-point lead with 2:44 remaining, only to fall to the Lady Tigers 51-46.
The Packers, who defeated St. Francis 63-57 in overtime in their Roundball Classic opener on Monday, got outstanding front court play from Nate Hill and Cole Pitts and built a 16-point lead with 6:10 remaining in the game.
Stockbridge cut the Packers advantage to five with 45 seconds left before a pair of Brian Berl free throws built the lead back to seven.
A 3-pointer at the buzzer by the Tigers’ Joe Griffin cut the Packers winning margin to four points.
Packers Coach Kirven Davis rubbed his bald head and said, “They’re going to make me lose my hair” after watching his team hold off the final Stockbridge rally.
“Like I told them in that final timeout, we’ve got to play to win not play not to lose,” said Davis.
But, he added quickly, “We’re resilient. And it’s somebody different every night. Tonight it was Cole Pitts. He jump-started us.”
The sophomore forward finished with 12 points, and he scored the first two baskets of the game and had 10 in the first half when Colquitt jumped out to a 10-point lead at the break.
And again it was the play of Nate Hill that helped keep the Packers winning streak alive.
The junior forward had 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds just one night after scoring 20 in the victory over St. Francis.
Eric Key also was in double-figures with 10 points.
Berl and Amel Magwood each had seven, Luis Ballenilla had six, Cameron Erving added four and Dominique Hadley had three points.
Chris Davis led Stockbridge with 25 points. Kevin Burke had 13 and Dante Campbell had 11.
The Tigers dropped their Roundball Classic opener to Monroe 65-56 on Monday.
Mt. Zion, Colquitt County’s Wednesday opponent, defeated Baker County 60-34 on Monday and beat Miller County 47-35 on Tuesday.
The Colquitt County girls suffered their second straight close loss in Tuesday’s next-to-last game.
On Monday, the Lady Packers lost a seven-point lead with 1:02 remaining and fell to Dougherty in overtime 59-56.
Colquitt trailed by eight after three quarters on Tuesday against Stockbridge, but scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter.
The Lady Packers finally took their first lead since early in the game when Ashley Patillo hit a pair of free throws to give her team a 43-42 led with 2:44 remaining.
But Synamon Martin tied the game with a free throw 14 seconds later and Alexis Taylor added two more free throws with 2:20 left and the Lady Tigers never trailed again.
The Lady Packers got as close as two on a basket by Patillo with 1:20 left, but could get no closer.
Kyra Chandler of Stockbridge led all scorers with 21 points. Martin added 19.
Patillo had 13 and Umeika Henry had 12 for Colquitt County.
Also for the Lady Packers, Nicolle Thomas had nine, Bria Wallace had six, Persephone Taylor had four and Shay Lovett had one basket.
The Colquitt County girls, now 5-4, will try to stay above .500 when they meet Camden County at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Lady Wildcats defeated Dougherty 57-48 on Tuesday.
In other scores from Tuesday’s games, the Albany High girls won over Savannah 48-37; the Lee County girls defeated Monroe 53-38; the St. Francis boys won over Baker County 71-62; and the Monroe boys defeated Mitchell County 52-39.